Sunday, March 17, 2013

My darling and highly creative friend Chanda Narang who runs Frazer & Haws, is always ahead of the curve when she inspires her team to come up with new concepts and designs in silver. I was in Delhi this week for Spring Fever and was delighted to have dinner with Chanda at Tres ( Delhi's latest, smartest and uber hip bistro). Her store at Khan Market happens to be cheek by jowl to Tres. I checked out Chanda's latest creations and fell in love with these two. What do you think of them? Beautiful or what????

And yes.... do contribute to a good cause....the campaign has just kicked off. Remember , even 500 rupees can change a little girl's life forever.

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This appeared in Sunday Times today...

Viva Italia!

What is there not to love about Italy and
the Italians? Errrr…. we’ll get to the Marines later. Let’s start counting first : We have flipped en masse for Italian cuisine.Eating Italian has become a
big, fat food trend across the country. And this generation of Indian bachchas
would rather pack pasta for their nashta
than parathas. Every nukkad has a pizza parlour
these days. Gelatos may soon replace kulfi. We also love Italian wines
and cheeses. Italian olive oil and tomatoes. Parmesan and Mozzarella have more
takers here than the humble paneer and chhana. We listen to Italian opera – aah
Pavarotti! Oh Domingo. We love their movies and movie stars. Our film buffs
have watched Fellini,Visconti.Antonioni and worshipped Mastroianni ( Marcello,
to you) for decades. Generations of desi men have fallen in love with Sophia
Loren, Gina Lollobrigida and Monica Bellucci.While women have swooned over De
Niro and Di Caprio. Will the wild female fantasy of the Great Latin Lover never
end?How can we overlook Italian design? Italian shopping? The unmatchable
leather boots and saddles? Handbags and shoes? All those impeccably crafted objects
of desire, guaranteed to make shopaholics go weak in the knees season after
season? Have we forgotten their silks and gowns? Fancy frocks and haute
couture? No, no, no. How can we not recognize the obvious – ‘Made in Italy’
means ‘Made in Heaven’? No wonder planeloads of tourists from India land up in
Rome, Pisa, Venice,Napoli, Capri, Milano in search of the perfect vacation.
Well- heeled travellers book their favourite villas in Tuscany months in
advance and talk knowledgeably about the joys of eating al fresco at their
favourite neighbourhood bistro. Si,si si
– it’s true - Indians do go gaga over all things Italiano. But…all
that may be a thing of the past now.

So, why has India’s love affair with Italy suddenly ended, not with a bang but a
tantrum? Well, there is that nasty little business involving two maddeningly
attractive Italian Marines with maddeningly melodious names (Salvatore Girone
and Massimillano Latorre). They have been really, really naughty. In our part
of the world, we’d call them murderous. But in Italy, these things happen. Guns
go off. Innocents die. Bad stuff takes
place And then finito! It’s all over. It happens like that in India as well.
But what happens in India, stays in India. In Italy, things work a little
differently. Promises are made. Assurances given. Lawyers and governments get
involved.Two naughty Marines are locked up . And everybody waits for a fair
trial. Then the Italians work on our soppy sentiments and play the X’Mas card.
Awwww! We say. Poor guys. They want to spend X’Mas with their families. Let
them go. They’ve promised to come back. And they will! Surprise, surprise! They
do come back! And all of us heave a sigh of relief and say, “See! Those Marines
kept their word.” We relax a little. The families of the murdered fishermen
don’t. They know something we refuse to acknowledge. The Marines are not to be
trusted. Nor is the Italian government . But, we allow the accused men go back to Italy once again. This
time to cast their votes. “They’ll be back. Just like the last time…” we say.
Ooooopps! That doesn’t happen. They change their minds. They are not coming
back in a hurry. In fact, they are not coming back at all! Deal with it! Our
chaps look terribly foolish as they tch!tch! and take the Italian Ambassador
Daniele Mancini, to task. He remains as cool as those gelatos we love and makes
all the right diplomatic noises. Italy is our friend, we say, somewhat
unconvincingly. But this is an act of hostility, someone pipes up. Contempt of
our courts, roar those who don’t particularly like Italians…. especially one
Italian lady who lives in Delhi. Blood is thicker than water, snipes a neta.
Whose blood? What water? There is anger and confusion all around. Women who
love their Italian bags, shoes, clothes and jewels, wonder whether it would
appear unpatriotic to flaunt them in public now. “We must stand by our
country,” they declare virtuously, and promise to boycott the Fashion Week in
Milan this year. Roadside vendors of pizzas switch to selling dosas. It’s time
for solidarity, we insist. Forget olive oil, it’s about time the Italians
extended an olive branch, declare apoplectic politicos. La Dolce Vita does not
look all that ‘dolce’ any more. And the Italian lady in Delhi is in no mood to
get into this mess. Arrivederci! Ciao! It’s time to say goodbye to the
absconding Marines. As for the dead fisherman and their grieving families… they
will probably be taken care of the old fashioned way. For a few Euros more… of
course. And they should remember to say ‘Grazie’ nicely when that happens!

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